{"id":14903,"date":"2026-04-24T13:09:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T17:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=14903"},"modified":"2026-04-24T13:09:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T17:09:53","slug":"queer-advocate-and-lesbian-bishop-yvette-flunder-calls-for-a-third-testament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2026\/04\/queer-advocate-and-lesbian-bishop-yvette-flunder-calls-for-a-third-testament.html","title":{"rendered":"Queer Advocate and Lesbian Bishop, Yvette Flunder, Calls For a ‘Third Testament’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Funcrunch \/ commons.wikimedia.org<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lesbian bishop is turning heads with her call for a \u201cThird Testament\u201d to the Bible. Yvette Flunder is the lead pastor of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland. The 70-year-old is married to a woman and has been lauded as a queer advocate. She is also the presiding prelate of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries. During a recent talk<\/a>, she called parts of the Bible, \u201cproblematic.\u201d \u201cThis is a very dangerous thing that I\u2019m about to say now, … a bit dangerous. I\u2019m of the opinion that we need a third testament because the Bible has become problematic,\u201d she said during the 2026 Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference.<\/p>\n

Flunder cited Ephesians 6:5, which states, \u201cSlaves obey your masters as you do the Lord,\u201d and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, which states, \u201cLet the women keep silent in the churches and if they have any questions let them ask their husbands at home.\u201d \u201cNow I\u2019m a believer. My whole heart, I trust God with my whole heart. I wake up in the morning talking to God and God talking to me. But I am completely frustrated with the ways in which the text speaks to the kind of vitriolic God that makes those kinds of things,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd people will say, \u2018Well, it\u2019s in the book.\u2019 And I said, then we need to pull that page out. And they said, \u2018Well, you can\u2019t do it. It\u2019s the Word of God.\u2019 I said, \u2018No, it\u2019s words about God.\u2019 Come on now. But is it the Word of God?\u201d She then responded firmly, \u201cNo. It is not the Word of God.\u201d Flunder did not offer an opinion as to how these particular \u201cproblematic\u201d passages made it into the Bible in the first place, nor did she express how she knows these passages ought to be removed.<\/p>\n

Flunder\u2019s words quickly went viral on X after Christian watchdog Protestia<\/a> shared a clip of her speaking. \u201cBishop Yvette Flunder did not merely question a passage. She told the church, in plain words, that parts of God\u2019s Word should be torn out,\u201d decried one pastor on X<\/a>. \u201cYou can almost hear it. Thin paper tearing. A hand reaching for the Book that has outlived empires, buried tyrants, steadied martyrs at the stake and carried dying saints across the final river. That sound is more than rebellion against ink and paper. It is rebellion against the God who speaks,\u201d he warned, referencing 1 Timothy 4:1, which states, \u201cNow the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.\u201d<\/p>\n

He warned against the \u201cfalse teaching\u201d of Flunder. \u201cShe did not merely mishandle a difficult passage. She set herself above the canon, as though she held the editor\u2019s pen. In that moment, she followed the serpent\u2019s old path, shifting the issue away from what God has spoken and toward what fallen people will tolerate,\u201d he said. \u201cFlunder\u2019s statements are not simply offensive. They are spiritually murderous,\u201d he added. \u201cRead the Scriptures in public. Explain them. Press them on the conscience. That is the path. Churches do not become holy through clever revisions and souls do not ripen under theological vandalism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lesbian bishop is turning heads with her call for a \u201cThird Testament\u201d to the Bible. Yvette Flunder is the lead pastor of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland. The 70-year-old is married to a woman and has been lauded as a queer advocate. She is also the presiding prelate of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":14906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nQueer Advocate and Lesbian Bishop, Yvette Flunder, Calls For a 'Third Testament'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lesbian bishop Yvette Flunder sparks backlash after calling for a \u201cThird Testament\u201d and rejecting parts of the Bible.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2026\/04\/queer-advocate-and-lesbian-bishop-yvette-flunder-calls-for-a-third-testament.html\" \/>\n<meta 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